Connection
by Cassidy1031
Summary: Ruby finds herself unable to remember herself or friends after Clancy did something to her. She fights through the pain that he left her, rediscovering her life. Kind of follows the story from when she first started sleepwalking in ITA. Rated T for mention of blood and our dear Vida.


I awoke from my unconscious state with a pounding migraine. My body ached against the cold cement floor of my containment. My eyes flew around the unfamiliar room. I stared at the blank walls around me only to hear voices coming from the other side of a seemingly glass wall. _Where am I?_

The invisible hands were still within my mind. I tried to stand but my knees buckled under my weight. It was then that the voices silenced.

"Ruby? You awake?" a strangely familiar voice had called.

 _Who's Ruby?_

The figure dangled keys within his grasp. His blonde hair rested against his formed face. And those blue eyes- they were so beautiful.

A section of the glass broke off as he twisted the keys. The blue-eyed man stepped into the room with a look of sympathy in his eyes. I curled myself into a ball and pushed as hard as I could against the corner of the cell.

"Liam she's obviously not-"

"Chubs, she'll never trust us until we get her to remember. We don't know what happened, and obviously neither does she."

I now knew the blonde as Liam. What a perfectly fitting name. "L-Liam?" I struggled to whisper.

Liam's face lit up as the light he held turned on. His eyes were puffy and red, _why was he crying?_

"Ruby, calm down" his voice shaking.

It was only then that I realized I was trembling. My hands were shaking fiercely against my sides and- the headache was unbearable.

I tried to stop my hands from shaking; _why was i scared?_ And realized that my arms were severed with deep cuts, and I was sitting in a pool of blood.

"W-what did you do to me?" I cried. What person, child, would ever inflict so much pain on another. I didn't even know them.

Liam's face was made wet as a river of tears poured down his face. The other boy, who I presumed to be Chubs, rushed in slowly approached me.

"Ruby-"

"Who is Ruby, and why won't you let me leave!" I sobbed, black spots darkening my vision.

"This is worse than I thought, Liam. I'm going to need a lot of supplies for this. And her memories, I don't know what Clancy did," he spoke with the most gentle voice the room had held since I woke, "Ruby? Stay with me!"

But it was ever so hard to keep my eyes open. And suddenly my world turned dark, and the ground came rushing up to my face as hands tried to grasp my shoulders.

The next time I woke up, my head was in a lot less pain. I was no longer in the glass cell, but was in another room. The walls were blindingly white. The sheets underneath my body were tinged to a yellow hue. And there were faces all around me.

I turned my head from left to right, and thrashed my limbs. But I was tied down. My arms restrained to the bed in zip ties, and my legs with rope. It was such a familiar feeling. Not a good one- but I knew it had happened before. So I sobbed. The tears wetting my cheeks.

"She's up, Boy Scout," a female voice cheered.

It was in a time like this that I wished I was back in the darkness of my previous containment. The dark was so much easier to see in. I wasn't restrained, I was free. _Did Jude ever like the dark?_

My thoughts seemed to work on their own. Who was Jude?

"Hey, shh, you're alright," a soft voice that I didn't recognize- no, the voice belonged to Liam.

He whipped the tears from my skin.

"Where am I, why don't you just leave me alone? I didn't ever do anything to you, why do you keep doing this to me?" I cried. Wasn't I supposed to be strong?

"Darlin' you're right we're you're supposed to be. I'm Liam, remember? We're in the infirmary in the League's ranch. Don't you remember, Ruby?" He seemed so sure of himself. But how could I believe him when I didn't even- wait, what _could_ I remember?

"I-I can't remember anything. If I did anything to you, I can work. I can fight, but please just stop the pain."

Liam studied me head to toe. His face showed the break in his heart. He stood up as big wet spots pooled under his eyes.

That's when the female sat down on my bed. "Boo, snap out of it. We're you're friends," but even the wittiness that she seemed to possess was held back by the own softening in her expression. She placed a hand on my arm, but I couldn't feel it.

I looked down to where her hand lay, on top of bandaged skin. She must have sensed my confusion as she came close to my face and whispered, "what ever he did to you, we'll get through it."

"I don't understand! I-" My voice quieter as my breath caught. I couldn't get air in, and most certainly found not get it out.

"Chubs! Get over here! What's happening?" the female spoke in between sobs.

My head, it was on fire. The invisible grasp in the back of my skull untangled itself and latched around my head, twisting through walls that had been built. Slowly memories slipped through the cracks in my head. A different voice took over. _I am Ruby._

"Chubs do something! She's not breathing!"

Chubs rushed to my side. "I-I can't do anything!" he sobbed.

A little girl ran through the door as people tried to grab her. She jumped up on the bed. Her tears glossening her doll like face.

I gasped, "Zu?"

The whole room turned towards me. Shocked that I knew her name. The girl turned towards me and said one thing through her pursed lips, "breath."

The invisible force in my head seemed to unleash its grip around my lungs when it realized it was killing me.

Zu thrusted her arms around me, only to knock into a tube that was in my nose.

I twisted my head only to find that it was a cannula. Oxygen was pumping through it.

Zu readjusted her grip and layed with me. The force was shoving memories from a life I didn't recognize into my skull; But it was me. From the day that I went trailing through the woods with my parents as a three-year-old, to the day I was taken by the PSF officers, to the day I found Zu, the day I came here, and everything in between.

Tears flooded my faces as the memories passed by. My grip on consciousness was fading, but I forced my weakening body to stay awake. Colors brighter than I ever could have imagined poured in. The feelings of love I felt towards the people here with me came as smoothly as turning a wheel. It was so beautiful. Until the darker memories poured in. They were filled with anger and colors darker than no color at all. The only thing that didn't come back was anything within a day of waking up the first time.

Chubs was sitting on the bed, rubbing his hand over Zu's back. I stared him dead in the eye and whispered, "Where's Liam?"

Chubs was astounded. "You, remember?"

"I-I don't know what I remember. It's like I'm living one life but have this other filling it's place. The two are being stitched together, but it'll be a while before I can make sense of any of the fine details."

Chubs sat up and grinned. He was solemn, but went to Liam and Vida and told them the state that I was in. They're faces went bright with joy, and came over to help untie me.

By the time I was free, I was bombarded with questions. But I sat there and waited for them to stop. Eventually they caught on.

"What happened," I spoke in a serious tone.

They all turned towards each other, debating whether they should tell me. Probably to spare me the pain.

Finally Chubs spoke up, "It started right after you started trying to break into the computer lab in your sleep. We immediately asked you to stop but you couldn't. When you woke up you couldn't remember anything that had happened. Later in the day you started to attack Nico. You two had a discussion earlier and were about to go feed Clancy. You started attacking him, against your own will," Chubs started to cry.

"Whats wrong?" I stumbled to get out.

"Then you told us to lock you in the glass area with Clancy. You said that you'd end it."

Realization pulsed through my veins. I started to fit the pieces into place, but acted puzzled so that my suspicions could be confirmed.

Liam picked up as Chubs stepped away to comfort Zu shaking body.

"We thought that you were going to do something to his head, and that you didn't want to have the opportunity to leave, but instead of hurting Clancy with your mind, he tried to kill you. Clancy was so deep into your head that you too were connected, he said that he had to in order to sever the connection."

I took a minute to gather my thoughts. "Where's Clancy now?"

"Clancy's dead. When he stopped the connection , he stopped his brain functions and he took your memories with him."

I hadn't realized that it was that serious. I never wanted for it to end like that. "I'm sorry," I sobbed.

"Just don't scare us like that again, Boo," Vida called.

I looked up to Liam's claiming face as he ran his fingers through my hair.

"We took you up here after we realized you were still alive," Chubs said while walking over to us.

My eyes stayed fixed on the Liam's eyes, and his soft lips. I reached up to his hair and ran my hands through it.

"You should get some sleep, we'll be eating dinner, I'll bring you up some later," Chubs said.

"Okay," I responded.

Zu, Chubs, Vida and Nico left the room. They were all relcutant to go, but knew better than to hault my healing process by keeping me awake.

Liam was about to exit after realseing his grasp from my hair.

"Liam," I groaned.

"Yes, Darlin'"

"Don't leave me alone."

"Never."

Liam came and layed on the bed. Our bodies fit together like two puzzle pieces. He kissed my neck, and then my face. We layed in the now dark infirmary room, as I fell into a hazy sleep.

When I woke up again, Liam was gone. The entire floor was dark. I started to panic. The bandages around my arms were still there and reality struck me like a knife in my gut.

I swung my legs over the railing of the bed. I detached the lines that flowed into my skin. _I need to get out._

I tired to put weight on my legs, remembering how the last time I tried this went. I was able to stand, but walking was a different story. I had to grab onto things to stay upright. _I'm weak._

I walked out of the door. My eyes scanning the dark halls. I tried to make it down to Alban's old office. _Maybe someone would be able to help me there._

I barely made it down before someone spotted me. Cole. Cole would not let me do what I want.

"Ruby?" He spoke rubbing his eyes, "Gem, is that you?"

I froze in my spot as he ran to me. He looked down into my eyes and then at my arms. "Ruby. . ."

I broke down in as he he started. I leaned my face into his chest. "Cole, it hurts. It hurts so much." I sobbed into his soft shirt.

Cole held me in his arms. Clearly uncertain of what to do. "What hurts?"

"My head, it's burning. My arms are screaming. I can't, I just can't do it."

He held me close. His blonde hair waved back as he picked me up. He held me bridal-style and carried me back to the infirmary.

"What in the world-" Chubs softly spoke, "where has she been?"

"She came down the stairs and I found her. She started crying and- you need to do something."

"Hmm. There's not much I can do."

He placed me on to the bed. As soon as I hit the bed, I immediately felt bile rising in my throat. I threw up all over myself. Chubs came over and instinctively gave me medicine to calm my already empty stomach.

"Ruby, you have to go to sleep."

"I can't, I won't go. I won't lose control again," I mumbled.

My vision was spotting. I felt like there were hands crawling all over my back. I started to sweat and shake.

"Ruby," Cole spoke but it seemed so distant.

"Ruby! Calm down! We're here!" Cole cried to me.

I gave up trying to fight it. The darkness surrounded me. I fell limp and slipped into a deep sleep.

I woke up to yet another dark room. This time my hands were tied down. _Probably because you're a monster._ The voice in my head taunted.

 _Accept adapt act._ I remembered from my training. The zip ties were the only thing keeping me restrained. I pulled as hard as I could, snapping the plastic around my wrists. I stood up and this time I did struggle to walk.

I left the area and knew exactly where I was going. It was not the middle of the night, as it had been the last time, so people were currently eating. I slipped into the room where dinner was being served, and spotted Vida and Chubs. Vida was eating, rubbing her blue dyed hair. Chubs has his nose in a book. I walked over and sat down.

"Ruby, when did you get up?" Vida questioned.

"A few minutes ago I guess. How long have I been out?"

"A week." Chubs quickly responded before Vida could, "and you should be resting."

"Give her a break Grannie. She's been through enough and doesn't need your bickering to add to the list," Vida teased.

I knew I had been out of it for a while, but I never though that it was that long. I tried to escape. My head was spinning.

"Ruby, I didn't mean it like that! Where are you going?"

I made my way to the the bunks where I had slept for so long before.

Inside the room I found a lump on where my bed was. It's blonde hair flowed over it's closed eyes. _Liam._

I layed my hand on his head, only to find my self being dragged into his dream.

Inside his dream I witnessed Clancy, "ending the connection."

I walked back and felt sick to the stomach. It was so hard to watch. I found the trash can lying in the corner, and puked into the box.

"You okay, Darlin'?" Liam chimed in.

"Yeah. I just-"

"You saw it didn't you?" I don't know how this man I love so knew me more than I knew myself.

"Yeah. It's okay."

Liam frowned, "just stay with me. I missed you."

"I missed you too."

I layed into the bed with him. Our pieces of the puzzle were yet again placed into their spots. Liam tugged off his shirt and I layed against his heat. He wrapped his arms around me and whispered, "I love you"

"I love you too."

And we stayed there in the dark of our room, in the sheets of my bed, in the warmth of his body.


End file.
